Imperialism

LETTERS FROM READERS

January 3, 1999

THE RECENT air campaign against Iraq raises troubling questions about American policy in the Persian Gulf region. The attacks have not managed to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime or to gain Iraqi cooperation with United Nations weapons inspectors.

Rather than working toward a quick resolution to this crisis, the American government has embarked on a policy of ``containment-plus'' that will embroil the United States' military more deeply in that region for an indeterminate period.

The United States is deliberately prolonging the crisis in order to justify its military presence in the region, a presence meant to guarantee the ``cooperation'' of all the region's countries. The recent military strikes are designed to permanently forestall the possibility that the inspectors might finish their job. This keeps the crisis just below the boiling point and forces the Gulf states to accept continued American ``protection.''

This is a policy of neo-imperialism, whereby the innocent people of Iraq are the victims. Such barbaric imperialism has no place in the modern world.